Police have stormed a Thai hospital after reporting that Covid-19 patients had an orgy, took drugs and started a fight, finding only 23 boxes of contraband cigarettes.
According to local media, a staff member at Samut Prakan Hospital in south-west Bangkok told police that the patients were having group sex and fighting, which resulted in injuries.
Officers from Thailand’s Homeland Security Operations Command, dressed in PPE equipment, attacked the Samut Pra Ruamjai 5 field hospital, where about 1,000 covid patients are treated, according to the Thai newspaper The Thaiger.
According to local media, a staff member at Samut Prakan Hospital in southwest Bangkok told police that the patients were having group sex and fighting, which resulted in injuries. Pictured: a photo from the archive of a Covid-19 field hospital in Thailand
Although police found no illegal drugs, they seized 23 cartons of cigarettes allegedly smuggled into the facility, officers said, along with a number of illegal e-cigarettes in Thailand.
In addition, CCTV images from inside the hospital were reviewed, showing that male and female patients were entering each other’s wards.
It also appeared that some patients were taking drugs, but due to the quality of the images the suspicious patients could not be identified.
The news media reported that public health authorities made the decision to separate the wards for male and female patients and to make separate areas for male and female to restore order at the field hospital.
Patients believed to have been involved in the illicit activity were alerted by authorities and warned that the repeat offenders would be transferred to another facility.
The Thaiger reported that a small group of officials has been stationed at the facility to help monitor patients.
Local government agents will join the scene with police officers and even military personnel to prevent further fights, drug use or orgies, the media reported.
Thailand is fighting a heavy punch of COVID-19 with nearly 20,000 new cases every day, while people who depend on tourism are fighting what was once one of the most visited cities in the world, with 20 million visitors. year before the pandemic.
On Monday, the British government added Thailand to its “red list” of travel, banning foreigners from traveling to England from those countries and citizens forced to quarantine them.
Despite growing cases, Thailand will lift most coronavirus restrictions on retail and food from next month and allow meetings of up to 25 people in Bangkok and other high-risk areas, it said on Friday. its COVID-19 working group.
Restrictions had to be eased and measures adjusted to revive the economy safely, according to the working group, as the country fights the worst outbreak of coronavirus and fights to increase vaccines, with only 1 in 10 people inoculated so far.
Thailand is fighting a heavy punch of COVID-19 with nearly 20,000 new cases every day, while people who depend on tourism are fighting what was once one of the most visited cities in the world, with 20 million visitors. year before the pandemic. In the picture: travelers to Bangkok
From September 1, malls, salons, hairdressers, foot massages and sports fields in 29 high-risk provinces, including Bangkok, will be allowed to resume operations, while restaurants can open to diners. according to the working group.
Authorities called on business operators to make sure service personnel were fully vaccinated and regularly provided with antigen kits and to require customers to prove vaccination and negative testing.
Thailand reported 18,702 new cases and 273 deaths on Friday, with 1.14 million cases and 10,587 deaths overall, the most overwhelming since April.
Its current fight is with the Delta variant of the highly transmissible virus, which has recorded record deaths during August.
“We need to adjust our way of dealing and living with the disease safely … adjusting the strategy and building confidence so that disease control measures coincide with the reactivation of the economy safely,” he said. said working group spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan at a briefing.